What Happened to Lando Norris’s McLaren car?
Lando Norris admitted that his McLaren became “too difficult to drive” during Q3 of the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix, preventing him from securing pole position. After leading the qualifying rounds at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Norris dropped to third, finishing behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Challenging Q3 Performance
Despite his strong performance in Q1 and Q2, Norris acknowledged McLaren lacked the pace needed to close the three-tenths gap to Sainz. “It was clearly not good enough. Honestly, I’m quite satisfied with P3,” he stated. Norris also mentioned missing FP1 and encountering tire issues in FP2, which left him at a slight disadvantage. “I feel a bit behind, not to the extent that Max is, but still not comfortable,” he added.
Reaching McLaren’s Limit in Q3
Although Norris made considerable progress in the initial qualifying rounds, he couldn’t push his McLaren further in Q3. “I’m glad I found the limit, but I couldn’t push past it. The car became too difficult to handle, especially to gain those three-tenths on Carlos,” he explained.
Norris believes that his performance dropped in Q3 because he had already maximized the potential of his car earlier than his competitors. “I’ve reached my limit. I couldn’t go any faster. The others might not have pushed theirs to the max yet.” He also admitted his Q3 lap was challenging, with near lock-ups in almost every corner and some costly errors.
Realistic Race Day Expectations
With Ferrari’s strong showing at the U.S. Grand Prix last weekend, Norris doesn’t expect McLaren to have the speed to challenge Ferrari’s Sainz in Mexico. “Race pace is always unpredictable. Recently, they have been extremely fast, faster than us. So, I’m not confident enough to say we can beat them with just speed. Like today, we’re not on their level,” he remarked.
Despite the challenges, Norris remains hopeful for a strong race start: “Carlos will be very fast, and as he said, he’s got nothing to lose. We’ll give it our best, but I don’t think we currently have the speed to match them.”
